I remember when they did that on my grandparents dirt road. It really helped to keep down the dust. I also recall having to use a mop and kerosene to swab the wood floor in our store. It was cheap and effective.
When I was a kid on the farm, we would spread out used motor and gear oil on the gravel road in front of the house to keep down dust. We had a lot of equipment and trucks, so used oil was always around and we had to do something with it. Try that one today, folks, and see what happens!